Gene targeting in mammalian cells through the use of short-hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) has been advanced by the development of vector systems for efficient delivery and stable expression of shRNA sequences (4, 7, 22, 30). Upon delivery into cells, shRNAs are converted into short double-stranded RNAs, termed small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), that mediate a sequence-specific RNA degradation process termed RNA interference (RNAi) (12, 14, 42). Antiviral therapy based on siRNA has been proposed as a new method for intracellular immunization against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (16, 31, 32) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) (34). When viral genes are targeted, viruses can escape from RNAi-mediated inhibition due to their high mutation rate (6, 11, 39). An alternative approach that shows promise is the use of siRNAs targeting cellular genes essential for virus replication. In the case of HIV-1, siRNAs against the cell surface CD4 receptor (31) or CXCR4 and CCR5 coreceptors for HIV-1 entry conferred viral resistance (2, 3, 33). However, CD4 and CXCR4 are essential for T-cell development and proper immunologic function. In addition, although CCR5 might be nonessential for normal function (23), not all HIV-1 strains require CCR5. Downregulation of an essential cellular coreceptor could potentially result in the emergence of HIV-1 variants that use another coreceptor(s) for viral entry into the cell. To achieve long-term control of viral replication by siRNA and prevent the emergence of escape variants, it is important to target highly conserved and/or essential HIV-1 sequences. For example, many sites in the cis-regulatory regions, as well as the protein-coding regions, of HIV-1 have been examined as potential targets for siRNA. These regions include the primer-binding site, the polypurine tract, the long terminal repeat, and the gag, pol, env, tat, rev, vif, and nef genes (6, 10, 11, 16, 18, 21, 30, 39). The degree to which siRNAs inhibited HIV-1 replication and the underlying mechanisms varied considerably, depending on the target sequence (10, 11). For example, RNAi-resistant HIV-1 variants can emerge not only through mutations in the siRNA target sequence but also through mutations that alter the local RNA structure (39). These results emphasize the need for empirical studies to determine effective siRNA target sites within the HIV-1 genome. In the present study, we selected several sequences for lentivirus-mediated shRNA expression based on a preliminary screening of HIV-1 RNAi target sites using synthetic siRNA duplexes. These sequences mapped within the integrase (IN) gene (int) and the attachment site (att), which are essential for HIV-1 integration. We evaluated the anti-HIV-1 activity of these expressed shRNAs using a highly susceptible CD4+ T-cell line. Genetic analysis of HIV-1 escape mutants that emerged after treatment with combinations of shRNAs revealed that two or more shRNAs targeting different essential sequences had the strongest impact on antiviral activity. The results also suggest that shRNAs or long-hairpin RNA (lhRNA) that targets incoming viral RNA before proviral DNA formation is more efficient at mediating RNAi antiviral therapy.